On May 19th, I was watching the news when President Trump took a press tour through the new $400 million White House ballroom that’s currently under construction. A reporter asked him about gas prices, which had just hit a national average of $4.55 per gallon.
He said: “This is peanuts.”
He said he doesn’t think about it.
I watched that clip three times. Then I bought peanutsforthepresident.com.
By Friday I had a label design. By Sunday I had a co-packer. By the following Tuesday I was shipping bags. This is the story of what I built and why, and an invitation to be part of it.
What the brand is Peanuts For The President is a real product. A premium 2oz bag of roasted, salted peanuts in a label that looks like an official government document, sold direct-to-consumer for $14.97. Every bag ships with a story: the one above. A flat $1 from every bag goes to hunger relief — not “up to,” not “a portion of,” a real dollar from every real bag to families who actually can’t afford to fill their tanks right now.
But the bag isn’t the whole product. The whole product is The Wall.
What The Wall is: When you buy a bag, you get to send one sentence to the President. Two hundred characters. Anything you want to say to him, within reason. We post it on a public page — peanutsforthepresident.com/the-wall — with your first name and your city. Public. Permanent. Free with every order.
By the time we hit a thousand messages, The Wall becomes a story journalists want to write about. By ten thousand, it becomes the largest public statement from American consumers about cost-of-living since the campaign began. You’re not just a customer. You’re on the record.
Why I built it this way
I’ve been running Mang Creative for years. I’ve built dozens of digital products, content systems, and marketing tools for small business owners. I know how to design a campaign. What I didn’t know, until last week, was what it would feel like to watch a sitting President describe a real financial hardship for millions of Americans as “peanuts” while standing in front of a $400 million ballroom.
That dissonance is the entire point. Not the politics. The dissonance. The “wait, what?” that anyone with a gas tank felt that day.
I built this as a real product because real products are how you actually make a point in 2026. T-shirts get worn once. Bumper stickers fade. A bag of peanuts that arrives at your door with a personalized story, a public message on your behalf, and a contribution to families in need — that’s something you remember. That’s something you tell your friends about. That’s something you photograph.
What happens with the money
Honest breakdown:
Premium peanuts and packaging from the co-packer: ~$2 per bag
Shipping mailer and postage: ~$5 per bag
Payment processing: ~$0.75 per bag
Hunger relief contribution: $1 per bag, every bag, no exceptions
The rest funds the operation: the website, the moderation team for The Wall, future campaigns
There’s no hidden investor. There’s no political committee. Mang Creative LLC is the entity behind it, I’m the founder, and the entire campaign is built on rapid execution and honesty about what it is.
What I’d like from you
Three things, in order of how much they help.
First: buy a bag. $14.97. The 3-pack at checkout saves you $5 if you want to send some to a friend or your group chat. Your message goes on The Wall the same day. Your dollar goes to hunger relief the same day.
Second: share The Wall. As messages start appearing, please pull a screenshot of your favorites and share them. Tag the brand. The campaign grows when individual voices get heard.
Third: tell me what you’d say. If you don’t want to buy, that’s fine — reply to this post with what your sentence to the President would be. I’ll publish a curated thread of reader submissions next week.
One last thing. This is not a partisan project. I’m not telling you who to vote for. I’m not selling you a worldview. I’m selling you a bag of peanuts and a chance to be on the public record about your gas bill, with a real charitable contribution attached.
If the President had called bread “free,” I would have made bread. If he’d called rent “trivial,” I would have made tiny model apartments. The product follows the quote. The point is the dissonance, the documentation, and the donation.
The peanuts are good. The point is better. The Wall is the proof. Thanks for visiting Peanuts for the President.
— Don MacLeod
Mang Creative, LLC
Morristown, NJ